Royal London is to move to a single “master” brand for its UK life, pensions and investment businesses.
Over the next two years the Group will move its main UK insurance businesses under the Royal London brand and will mean the phasing out of some long-standing trading names that Royal London has used in the adviser market such as Scottish Life, Bright Grey and Scottish Provident.
Royal London’s financial education service Moneyvista will also move to operating under the Royal London name.
The Ascentric wrap platform will retain its name as it offers an independent wrap solution for advisers. In the Republic of Ireland Royal London will continue to operate under the Caledonian Life brand.
Phil Loney, group chief executive, said: “It is a key part of our strategy that Royal London will operate under a single brand across our UK pension, protection and asset management businesses. The transition will be phased in gradually over the next two years so that we can take customers with us on this journey.
“During this time our customers and their advisers will increasingly become familiar with the new Royal London brand. By moving to a single brand we can emphasise the scale and reach of Royal London across the investment, pension and protection markets, and seek to make the benefits of our mutual approach tangible for all of our customers.
“This does not mean a change in our focus; we remain fully committed to supporting advisers. It does mean that the Royal London name will become far more visible and people will come to recognise it as the leading mutual provider – a key differentiator from our competitors. Many of our pension customers are already members of Royal London and we aim to make the benefits of membership an increasingly prominent part of our proposition going forwards.
“Indeed I believe that many of you will welcome a strong brand presence from Royal London, as clients may be more likely to accept the recommendation of a high quality product from a supplier they spontaneously recognise and can identify with. Our approach of using the new Royal London brand for our existing business model means advisers and customers will not experience any major changes in our product range, service capability or in key contact points.
“To support the Royal London brand we will be launching a programme of high-profile promotional activity aimed at our advisers and customers. Further details will be announced very soon.”
